My outrage (not sure you could really call it that) is not some moral thing or based on a perception that they are doing nothing. My issue comes from the fact

My outrage (not sure you could really call it that) is not some moral thing or based on a perception that they are doing nothing. My issue comes from the fact that securities trading is based on the idea that we buy and sell parts of these securities under the idea we see value in the company. This fits best with a long term hold position but is not really that divergent with a day trader who buys AAPL today because he thinks news later today about some new product will cause the price to go up thus increasing the value of the company. He will sell later in the day because he thinks that it may drop later. My issue with HFT is that these trades (well most of them) are not based on the value of the security but rather on the act of buying and selling itself. It is meta in a sense. That in my mind creates a fundamental flaw in the marketplace around the true purpose of a securities exchange.